Michelle and Barack Obama: but is it all smiles behind the scenes? Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

An unauthorised biography of America's first family by New York Times journalist Jodi Kantor is published tomorrow. Here are six key "revelations" from The Obamas:

• In 2009 the Obamas held an "Alice in Wonderland" ball for Halloween. But the event was hushed up as the economy faltered. The event was organised by Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, Depp reprising his film role by dressing as the Mad Hatter.

• The relationship between Michelle Obama and the former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was said to be fraught. "The strains eventually became deep enough that the first lady's team held a retreat in the winter of 2010 to discuss the problem." During one standoff, Obama said she would no longer campaign for her husband.

• In September 2010, a story broke that Michelle had told Carla Bruni-Sarkozy that living in the White House was "hell". It was rebutted, but Michelle was furious with the press team's response, in particular the four-letter tirade from the then White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. Gibbs has apologised this week.

• An "impromptu" dance by Michelle during a visit to a school in Mumbai in 2010 was stage-managed by White House staff. "It was the original, defining visit to the London school refined, repeated ... turned into a reliable formula to convey what she wanted to stand for on the world stage: the idea that anyone could grow up to be anything."

• Michelle's mother, Marian Robinson, was able to slip in and out of the White House because people "think I'm just another person who works at the mansion".